Chance the Rapper

Thousands smashed themselves body to body in front of the Eagles Ballroom stage for Mac Miller in July, screaming like bloodthirsty warriors. It was an intensity rarely seen even at the Rave — except it reached those levels earlier that night, for Miller's opener, Chance the Rapper.

There's a chance you haven't heard of him; the Chicago rapper doesn't even have a record deal. A sweet one is coming his way soon, however, thanks to an April mixtape, "Acid Rap," that received some of the year's strongest reviews and inspired comparisons to Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. Like those A-listers, Chance is witty, soulful, funny and surrounds himself with fresh production, and he also shows a serious side.

"Pusha Man" playfully casts the thug as hero before he segues into exploring the dark side of a crime-ravaged inner city: "Down here it's easier to find a gun than a (expletive) parking spot." Live, though, Chance is all fun: At the Eagles Ballroom in July, he was running on tiptoes, barking into the microphone and spraying the crowd with a water gun.

Chance is bringing along fellow Chicagoans DJ Rashad and Spinn as openers.

Was there ever a country song more perfect for Brew City than "Beer" by Justin Moore? "Beer is great, beer is good," Moore sings on the tune, from this year's "Off the Beaten Path" album. "It tastes just as good in the city as it does in the woods."

Moore will go down smooth Friday at the Rave, as will the good ol' boy's more sentimental No. 1 country hits, 2009's "Small Town USA" (from Moore's self-titled debut album) and "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" (from 2011's "Outlaws Like Me").

Opener Josh Thompson should be a crowd-pleaser soon. The Rave folks are his people, not in a figurative sort of way, but literally; Thompson was born in Cedarburg and worked construction in Milwaukee, including at Miller Park, pre-country career.

Randy Houser, co-writer of Moore's "Back That Thing Up," is also on the bill with his own set of hits.

If Marc Broussard's southern R&B sounds like it bubbled up from a Louisiana swamp, that's because Broussard hails from Lafayette, La., and calls Ted Broussard of the swamp soul band the Boogie Kings "Daddy." But Broussard is just as comfortable with singer-songwriter pop tracks such as "The Wanderer," which explains how he ended up opening for the likes of the Dave Matthews Band and Maroon 5 and collaborating with Sara Bareilles on "Why Should She Wait," which brings both styles together. Sunday night, expect to hear new songs from Broussard's forthcoming album, expected next year.

Rock 'n' roll sometimes feels like a dead cultural force in the main spotlight of American and world entertainment today, and the music's remaining side-stage vitality can sound like a slap-back echo of the excitement of the 1950s and early '60s. At least, with Shannon and the Clams, it's a powerful echo.

"Shannon" is Shannon Shaw, a resident of the Oakland-San Francisco area who also plays in Hunx and His Punx behind the proud Seth Bogart (a.k.a. Hunx) and who seems to share his penchant for brassy brashness. Fronting her own outfit, Shaw holds onto her bass and puts her vocals further out front, backed by guitarist Cody Blanchard and drummer Ian Amberson.

At first, the Clams delivered their music — garage, punk, classic 45s and girl-group attitude — better onstage than on record, but their third album, "Dreams in the Rat House," has improved their overall reputation this year. The Clams might be an echo; they're definitely exciting.

You've got to wonder, during the Great Recession's darker days, if Kirsten Thien's old Georgetown University McDonough School of Business classmates were wishing they, too, had abandoned their promising Wall Street careers to become blues musicians.

It seems to be working out for Thien, whose sultry voice is well matched by her smoky guitar work, reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt. Her Shank Hall show is in support of a live album that came out this year.

Thien's opener, Magnus Berg, isn't just too young for grad school; he's too young for college. The 17-year-old native Norwegian was first inspired by his granddad, who introduced him to major influences like B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and gave him his first guitar, made with his own hands, when Berg was 7.

Online and bar-table discussions about band names are as common among music fans as talk-radio discussions about Babe Ruth vs. A-Rod are among sports fans. Nobody really intends to follow through on the silly ideas they come up with during these discussions. And yet here's the Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!

A product of SUNY Purchase, the same college campus where Moby got his thing going, Terror Pigeon is less a band than a happening with founder Neil Fridd somewhere near its center. Its early reputation came almost entirely from energetic and engaging live shows and stagecraft that was one part Dada and one part Mama's kitchen.

In 2008, though, it put out the "We're Humans: Be Awesome" EP and followed in 2010 with the deliberately messy party LP "I Love You. I Love You. I Love You and I'm in Love with You. Have an Awesome Day! Have the Best Day of Your Life!" As that album title might indicate, Terror Pigeon performs as though always carrying on those band-name conversations.